This report summarizes the activities of Usability Engineering:
Industry-Government Collaboration for System Effectiveness
and Efficiency, a symposium held February 26, 1996, at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in
Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA. Over 100 people attended presentations
covering a broad range of usability engineering topics.

The interest in this symposium's topics is illustrated by the
fact that despite a postponement of the symposium from January 10
to February 26 due to the U.S. federal government furlough, combined
with the Blizzard of '96, almost all the speakers and attendees
were willing to change their schedules to accommodate the new
date. We do hope that future activities will have fewer obstacles
to overcome.

Background

The idea for the symposium originated during a CHI '95 workshop,
HCI Challenges in Government Contracting. This workshop was
one in a series of gatherings of human-computer interaction (HCI)
professionals involved in government projects at the local,
state/provincial, national, and international levels. Past
SIGCHI Bulletin issues (October, 1994, pp. 49-50 and October,
1995, pp. 35-37) contain reports on previous gatherings.

Usability Engineering and Re-Inventing Government

Computers are supporting increasingly complex tasks which
then require progressively more sophisticated and interactive
systems. The fiscal necessity of employing commercial,
off-the-shelf (COTS) products with legacy data increases the
complexity of designing such systems. Consequently, application
of HCI techniques becomes increasingly important to ensure that
usable systems are built. This is especially evident in government
systems because of the large number (and high cost) of custom
computer systems and legacy system integration and updates.

Simply put, it is critical for government and industry to
implement the best practices now available to ensure the
usability of new and re-engineered government systems.

This symposium aimed at bringing together industry and
government to raise awareness about usability practices
and exchange information and strategies for achieving
effectivness, efficiency and satisfaction in computer-based
government systems.

Logistics

The symposium was held February 26, 1996 at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg,
Maryland, a suburban Washington, D.C. site (also the site of
the first CHI). The program committee chose this location to
facilitate attendance by government employees who are often
restricted in their traveling ability and limited the program
to one day at a reasonable cost to further encourage participation
by government employees and government contractors.

Organizers

The original program committee consists of the authors of this
report. Bill Hefley of the Software Engineering Institutue,
has recently joined the committee to help coordinate 1997
activities.

The Role of Users in the Development of Computer Systems for
the National Airspace System
Allyn C. Dillman, Professional Airways System Specialists

Needs Assessment/Open Forum
Laura Downey and Sharon Laskowski, NIST

Closing Plenary - Making Usability Work in the Organization
George Casaday, DEC

Demographics

The 116 attendees included representatives from industry,
government agencies, the U.S. Senate, the National Science
Foundation, and academia.

The attendees comprised the following groups:

48 (42%) industry

51 (44%) total government

19 (16%) NIST

32 (28%) other government

9 (8%) academia

8 (7%) other (e.g., federally funded research and
development corporations)

While the 28% non-NIST government participation is encouraging,
a higher percentage is desirable to achieve the symposium's
goal of educating government personnel in the need to specify,
incorporate, and apply the best practices in usability
engineering.

Feedback

Both positive and constructive feedback was obtained through
the feedback/open forum session, symposium feedback sheets
(46/116 returned), and comments from colleagues. The majority
of the attendees agreed that a continuation of activities to
promote usability in the government arena was of strategic
importance. Specific feedback/suggestions included:

construct a NIST web site and/or listserver as a focal point
for information dissemination

re-implement the gov-hci mailing list

create a framework for use by procurement officials

construct a cost-benefit analysis unique to government

develop a usability engineering presentation at a software engineering
conference

involve the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the
General Services Administration (GSA) in these activities

identify systematic barriers to usability engineering
in government

acquire a list of government chief information officers
for future symposia/workshops

Constructive criticism for future symposia included:

target the audience better (to increase dissemination of information to
the people who need it) by identifying classes of stakeholders

reduce redundancy in the presentations

consider more focused sections including more than
one track

Future Activities

The organizers are currently putting together a post-symposium
publication, which is scheduled for release sometime in Fall
1996. Because of the growing interest in applying usability
engineering to government systems, we are also planning a second
symposium at NIST (tentatively scheduled for March 3, 1997). Additionally,
we are encouraging the formation of a Washington-based usability group
to facilitate and enable usability in the government arena (NIST can
serve as a focal point for meetings, information dissemination, etc.)

We invite and welcome participation in our activities. Anyone
interested in focusing on usability in the government arena may
send email to sharon.laskowski@nist.gov or call +1-301-975-4535 for more information.